HILLSBORO Star-Journal

There seemed to be no age requirement for enjoyment during Down Home Christmas activities Saturday in Hillsboro. Toddlers smiled at Santa, children decorated cookies, youths sold hot chocolate, and adults sorted through jewelry, crafts, and antiques at several locations in town, looking for the right gift. For a moment in time, 1-year-old Lauren Swaney enjoyed being the center of attention, while her sister, Carolyn, almost three, and her big brother Wilson, four, checked out Nativity scene characters in the former Molly’s on Main building.

As a college student in California, Laura Paulus often looked for ways to make and give inexpensive Christmas gifts out of necessity. Now married with four children, and living in Hillsboro, she still enjoys putting her creative mind to work and finding ways to make inexpensive gifts for giving, even if she does not have to. “I just love collecting old dishes, wine glasses, and antique glassware,” Paulus said. “My friends and relatives even collect stuff for me and give it to me for my hobby.”

Amy Kerstner is only 11, but age did not stop her from selling hot chocolate to Christmas customers in Hillsboro on Saturday to raise money for a church window restoration project. “We talked about it at my church and I just wanted to do something to help,” Kerstner said. “I really like stained glass windows and think they are pretty. I want to see them fixed.”

Sierra Dirksen, a 20-year-old college student from rural Goessel, left her heart in Kenya when she went to serve as a teacher among poverty-stricken children. She went to Africa in the summer of 2011 with the Children and Youth Empowerment Center in Nyeri. She plans to spend winter break following her heart back to service in Nyeri, leaving Dec. 15 and returning Jan. 15. “My time there in 2011 was absolutely amazing,” Dirksen said Tuesday, as she finalized packing lists and hurried to get immunizations for her international trip. “I expected to enjoy service, but I had no idea how it would affect me. I went there to work as a teacher, but ended up working with the children, establishing relationships with them and finding ways to break the cycle of violence and drugs they were caught in on the streets.”

Some people enjoy traveling to other cities to take in Christmas light displays, but Goessel, Kansas, population 539, on the northwest edge of Marion County, is not usually such a point of destination. Lyle Christ is working to change that. At his home at 100 S. Pine in Goessel, Christ put up over 16,000 lights for the two months of the Christmas season, creating a colorful, glittering, moving, glowing, and blinking display at the edge of the dead-end street.

Santa will be visiting Ampride stores in Marion and Hillsboro on Dec. 15. He will be in Marion from 10 to 11:30 a.m. and in Hillsboro from noon to 1:30 p.m.

John Leroy “JB” Bloomer was called home to Heaven on Dec. 3, 2012. He was born to Henry and Caroline Bloomer on April 6, 1936, in Florence, Kan. He was raised in Peabody, Kan., until he joined the Army in January 1955, returning home in December 1956. He married Cora (Clithero) Bloomer on Dec. 19, 1958. The same year he started J.B.’s Repair as the owner/operator. In 1980, he started at the Farmer’s Grain Coop as a mechanic and millwright until his retirement in April 2001.

Nova Louise Bruner, 75, of Marion died Nov. 27. She was born Oct. 29, 1937, in Marion to Floyd and Velma Bogart Bredemeier. She attended Marion schools and was a Marion High School graduate with the class of 1955. She married Merle Bruner on Feb. 12, 1956.

Myrna R. Eskeldson, 75, of Ramona, died Monday at Herington Municipal Hospital. She was born Aug. 10, 1937, to Martin F. and Martha E. (Krause) Brockmeier at their home west of Herington. She was a homemaker. She graduated from Hope High School in 1955. She was a dental hygienist until 1960 and later worked part-time in the Ramona Post Office. She was a member of Trinity Lutheran Church in Ramona.

Gerald D. “Jerry” Harp, retired mortician and past owner of Thompson-Harp Funeral Home in Marion, Kan., passed away Nov. 30, 2012, at the age of 88. Born in Penalosa, Kan., on April 29, 1924, he was the son of Ralph and Myrtle (Hurty) Harp. He spent most of his youth living in Wichita with his parents and brother Ronald and sister Joanne. He was a 1942 graduate of Wichita North High School. He attended Kansas State University and then the University of Kansas.

Ronnie L. Knott, 57, died Monday at Wesley Medical Center in Wichita. He was born Oct. 9, 1955, in Newton to Robert and Edith (McCann) Knott. He was a graduate of Hesston High School and worked as a carpet and flooring installer.

Robert E. “Bobby” Muhlig Jr., 48, of Herington, died Thursday at his home. He was born Aug. 26, 1964, to Robert Sr. and Judy (Catlin) Muhlig in Manhattan. He was a lifelong resident of Herington and graduated from Herington High School in 1982. He was a supervisor for Hamm’s Quarries for more than 25 years. He loved hunting, fishing, archery, motorcycle riding, and spending time with family and friends.

Katherine DeFilippis, manager from The Lumberyard in Hillsboro, spoke to Hillsboro City Council members Tuesday at their regular meeting and offered assistance from that store in connection with the council’s quest to upgrade city codes. “The general idea I am getting from contractors about the city’s requirement that they purchase new code books is that it is going to be a hardship,” DeFilippis said. “I am just here to offer that The Lumberyard buy a complete copy of the updated code books and then contractors could come here and look at them. It would alleviate the burden of purchase for the contractors.”

Our drive to find families, individuals, or organizations in need of help picked up steam this week, as we received 10 nominations for Hoch Publishing Company’s $1,000 Christmas donation. It’s becoming obvious already that there are plenty of worthy causes in Marion County to help, so for the next week Hoch Publishing Company will add $10 to the donation for every new or renewed subscription to the Marion County Record, Hillsboro Star-Journal, or Peabody Gazette-Bulletin. A theme continued from last week’s nominations are families going through hard times because of job loss, either because of health issues or the economy. Marlene Herzet of Hillsboro nominated a family in which the husband lost his job after a fall worsened a preexisting health problem last year. The husband has found work since then, but the pay isn’t as good, and he undergoes treatment for the worsened health problem.

Tabor Mennonite Youth Fellowship will have a live Nativity scene with actual farm animals, Night in the Barn, from 6 to 8 p.m. Dec. 15 and 16 in the barn of Maynard Knepp and Carol Duerksen. The come-and-go event will include perspectives from the innkeeper and a shepherd, as well as Christmas carols. There will be a bonfire guests can gather around and hot drinks. Donations to the youth group will be accepted.

Leaders installed new officers at the Goessel Goal Getters 4-H club monthly meeting, Nov. 5. Ella Tracy led the Pledge of Allegiance and the 4-H pledge. For roll call, members named a project they are enrolled in for the new year. Club officers taught members the steps to make a motion.

State Farm Insurance offices in Hillsboro and Marion will have a holiday open house from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday. Refreshments will be served.

A Hillsboro FFA alumni chapter has been working for most of a year now to find ways to support the student chapter at Hillsboro High School. For the most part, that means providing financial assistance for events like going to National FFA Convention, alumni chapter vice president DeLayne Herbel said Thursday. In essence, it is a booster club specific to FFA.

Marion American Legion Post 22 will host National Vice Commander Glenn Hickman on his three-day tour of Kansas with a reception at 3:15 p.m. Dec. 12 at the American Legion Post 22, 424 E. Main St., Marion American Legion members, guests, and the public are invited to hear Hickman speak on Legion programs and issues concerning veterans and the nation. During his tour, Hickman will visit seven American Legion posts in Kansas. Hickman is a U.S. Air Force veteran from Grove City, Ohio. He is a life member of Post 1 in Columbus, Ohio. He previously served as department commander in Ohio and has been an active volunteer at the Chalmers P. Wylie VA Ambulatory Care Center in Columbus since 1985.

B.J. Myrick has completed a historical novel, “Nelly of No Man’s Land.” It was published Saturday and is available in ebook format. It will be available as paperback in a few weeks. Myrick retired from Hillsboro High School 18 years ago as art educator. She has published several ebooks and is a member of the Kansas Writers Association and Oklahoma Writers Federation Inc. She has one daughter and lives in Atlanta, Kan.

Jon and Christi Braun of Justin, Texas, had adopted two children — Aliyah and Anna — and had one of their own — Brayden — when they became involved with the World America Adoption Association, a Christian ministry that brings American couples together with orphans from other countries. They learned that four orphan siblings in an Ethiopian orphanage were available for adoption. Being a spiritual family, they began to pray that a home would be found for these children.

Mark Harms, a Marion County rancher, was elected Nov. 30 by the Kansas Livestock Association to serve as president of the organization during the next year. Harms and his wife, Kim, own and operate Harms Plainview Ranch in rural Lincolnville. They raise registered Angus, Red Angus, and Charolais cattle.

CORRESPONDENTS:

The Hillsboro Middle School Fine Arts Department invites community members to its annual Christmas concert at 7 p.m. Monday in the USD 410 auditorium. The concert will feature bands and choirs from grades six through eight. Selections to be performed include “Dance of the Tumblers,” “Carol of the Drum,” “Joy! Joy! The Child is Born,” and “Holly Jolly Christmas.”

Performing to expectations, many Hillsboro High School wrestlers made key fundamental errors in their first matches Thursday against Minneapolis, coach Scott O’Hare said. “They let elbows float away from their bodies,” O’Hare said. “They let people pull around (for reverses).”